#Teide Tenerife

We are just back from a week's all inclusive poolside holiday at Puerto Santiago, Tenerife. The weather was lovely, the hotel excellent - and the food tremendous - a fun and relaxing week at frankly very reasonable cost.

On the middle day in the week we had planned ahead to do a day trip. We went to Parque Nacional del Teide with the intension of getting to the top of El Teide.

El Teide Mount Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Its 3,718-metre summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. At 7,500 m from its base on the ocean floor, it is the third highest volcano on a volcanic ocean island in the world after Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and others in Hawaii. Its elevation makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world. It remains active: its most recent eruption occurred in 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on the north western Santiago rift. The United Nations Committee for Disaster Mitigation designated Teide a Decade Volcano because of its history of destructive eruptions and its proximity to several large towns, of which the closest are Garachico, Icod de los Vinos and Puerto de la Cruz. Teide, Pico Viejo and Montaña Blanca form the Central Volcanic Complex of Tenerife.

Here is our account :

We hired a car for the day for 39 euros to get there.

Most hotels are on or near sea level of course (as was ours) - the summit of Teide at over 12000 feet. So a massive height transition necessary in a short time therefore making symptoms of altitude sickness a risk.

For this reason and for practical time issues we decided not to climb from the base of El Teide - an assent of apparently 6 to 8 hours from the base. Instead we took the easy option - the Teleferico - cable car to within a 30 or 40 minute walk to the top.

The cable car is limited in size and busy. It costs 27 euros. To avoid the worst of the queuing I would recommend you buy tickets online if possible.

The vast majority of the cable car riders are not permitted to climb to the top of El Teide volcano. Numbers are very carefully limited by the requirement of a licence with a passport check. I booked several months in advance online from the UK. There was no cost but it is necessary because as I say numbers are restricted and there is no chance of a licence if you do not plan well in advance.

When we got to the limit of the cable car we went on to the path to the top and all the crowd was thankfully gone. It was very quiet, beautiful and lovely - the views truly outstanding.

The hike to the top was cold and windy despite the sun. It was quite a scramble but within the compass of a reasonably fit person with a bit of nerve. (be prepared for some sort of altitude related headache) Personally I would suggest going up to Teide on the cable car and not going to the crater top would have left a rather unfulfilled experience. When we got to the summit we are wonderfully on our own - the highest people in whole of Spain - ha!

I attach some photos. The extensive El Teide National Park is really spectacular with dramatic evidence (and colours) of intense volcanic activity over millions of years. A great place to visit and highly recommended.